Finland - 10 FLAGs - 9.4 M€

Finland’s fisheries areas face several challenges. These include a decline in the number of commercial fishermen; the vulnerability of the fisheries sector to market fluctuations; an increase in the seal and cormorant populations in coastal areas; environmental degradation, especially eutrophication in the Baltic Sea; and competition between commercial fishing, recreational fishing and environmental conservation. The 10 Finnish FLAGs focus on boosting and optimising activities throughout the entire value chain; promoting innovation across sectoral boundaries, creating new ways of thinking and doing business, while also ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources; and encouraging cooperation.

CLLD Programme

CLLD Context:

Fishing is an important commercial and recreational activity. In 2012, there were about 1 500 fishing businesses, with the vast majority (97%) owning a single vessel. The fisheries sector has 295 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. The total revenue generated by the Finnish fleet in 2014 was €52 million. The total value of the fisheries sector is about €900 million per annum.

The aquaculture sector employs a further 349 FTEs.

An overview of the Finnish EMMF programme is available at the following link.

Axis 4 achievements (2007-2013):

During Axis 4 (EFF), Finland had eight FLAGs in total: five coastal FLAGs (including the autonomous Åland islands) and three inland FLAGs, in the lake districts in the East and North of the country.

Achievements of Axis 4:

FLAGs were able to bring new thinking to, and involve new actors in the EFF programme implementation;

Cooperation between different actors increased, and this has been the most important qualitative result of CLLD. Interest groups that previously did not have much interaction now sit at the same table. Cooperation between professional fishermen, environmentalists and researchers has been improving;

FLAG projects often had a catalytic effect, leading to larger scale business investments or development projects.

An evaluation of the EFF Axis 4 activities for this period concluded that the "new" approach was successful in terms of the development and renewal of fisheries areas: 58% of project promoters said they could not have implemented their projects without FLAG support, and those who could have, were able to do things on a bigger scale.

CLLD objectives and challenges for 2014-2020:

The main challenges that community-led local development will have to address in Finland’s fisheries areas in the coming years include:

A decline in the number of commercial fishermen, which could lead to a situation where this valuable natural resources is underutilised;

Conflicts with other stakeholders; with commercial fisheries often competing with recreational fishing and environmental conservation.

To cope with these challenges, the objectives of the Finnish Operational Programme 2014-2020 are:

to foster competitiveness, renewal and adaptation of the fisheries sector, and

to enhance cooperation between regional actors, interest groups and LAGs.

The objective of CLLD for this period is to support these strategic goals in the local context, including by:

boosting and optimising activities throughout the entire value chain;

promoting innovation across sectoral boundaries, creating new ways of thinking and doing business, while also ensuring the sustainable use of the natural resources;

Encouraging and supporting open-mindedness, cooperation, continuous know-how development and calculated risk taking, which are the cornerstones of the fisheries CLLD strategy.

The number of FLAGs have been increased to ten. They include the former eight FLAGs, whose strategies have been selected for this period as well, plus two new groups that fill in geographical gaps on the south-west coast and archipelago side, and in the inland Lake Päijänne area. Compared to 2007-2013, the total budget for CLLD has been increased slightly, so the average budget per FLAG remains similar.

CLLD Budget

Total budget:

€9 400 000

EMFF budget for CLLD:

€4 400 000

Co-funding:

€5 000 000

Proportion of CLLD in EMFF budget:

11%

Number of FLAGs:

10

Average budget per FLAG:

€940 000

National Network

The fisheries network will be hosted by the National Rural Network / Agency for Rural Affairs, which is meant to ensure good coordination, cost efficiency and other synergies between the two networks.

The total budget for the fisheries network for the whole programming period is €900 000.

The network aims at:

Improving internal and external networking by fostering synergies within and outside the fisheries sector;

Strengthening the visibility and improving the image of Finnish fisheries, its products and know-how;

Acting as an ‘innovation broker’, including by providing development and advisory services;

Communicating information on the implementation and results of the EMFF OP. This task is very broad, with a national and international scope. On the international level, the main focus is the Baltic Sea area.

Supporting FLAGs by organising needs-based training, and by facilitating the exchange of good practices and partner searches in Finland and abroad.

Supporting the fisheries authorities: organise events e.g. seminars and training related to the delivery of the EMFF OP.

Participating in the activities of the EU’s fisheries area network (FARNET).

Cooperation

Cooperation is strongly encouraged, both at the inter-territorial and transnational levels.

Requirements: no specific national rules for cooperation have been defined, but project promoters must have an office in the programme area, i.e. in Finland.

Budget: FLAGs set their own cooperation budgets according to their needs.

Possible cooperation areas: Transnational cooperation is mostly expected within the Baltic Sea basin, focusing on issues of common interest such as the prevention of seal and cormorant damage.

Possible partners: The national network will help with partner searches, partnership agreements and other aspects of cooperation.

Delivery of CLLD

The funding application process:

For the moment, Finland is not implementing a multi-fund approach for CLLD. However, in most cases, FLAGs and LAGs do share the same offices and administrative support costs, which allows for good synergies.